I can’t force her to want me, and I guess at that exact moment, it just felt like everything, including Vanessa, was falling into my lap.
Literally.
Because I’m Michael Hart.
I always get what I want, and yeah. Plenty of good stuff falls into my lap. It always has.
But if she’s not into me, and I’ve made a fool of myself….
Don’t even think about it. She’ll come back, and we can pick up where we left off. But for Pete’s sake, keep it under your desk.
“Everything alright, Mr. Hart?” Marie asks, and I give her a puzzled look, not even aware of her entering my office after I sit back down.
“…with Ms. Campbell. She left in a hurry. I just…,” she says but shuts her mouth instead.
Good.
“Vanessa will be joining us come Monday,” I announce. As if I personally can summon her back just by saying so.
“I guess she just couldn’t wait to go tell someone the good news,” I bluff. Waving off Marie’s concern and replacing it with the reminder I hire people and appreciate their work.
But I’ve fired plenty of people too.
“That’s great news,” Marie tells me with forced interest. “Anything you’d like me to do?”
My single glance toward the door is enough to tell her how she’d be most useful right now by disappearing, which she does, closing my office door gently behind her.
Glancing at the time, I can almost predict just how many minutes I have before Jase calls me, asking how it all went.
Being excited to see his best friend land a steady job. I’m counting the seconds until I’ll have to tell him something about what happened. I know he’ll call and ask how it went. He’ll want to congratulate her and spoil her like I know he does.
But I’ll do more than spoil her myself in my own special way.
Once the shock of her running out lessens a little, I’ll be alright.
I shake my head, still wanting to punish myself over something I’m so sure we both felt.
Both still feel.
“It’s fucking destiny,” I growl under my breath, reminding myself that I've gotten everything I’ve wanted so far in life.
And the longer the wait’s been, the bigger the rewards that followed.
Hart Construction is mine. It’s who I am.
But I know the biggest, and the best thing I’m yet to build is with Vanessa.
I just need to find a better way to go about it. And getting her back here would be a start. It gives me another chance to see her and ask her why she’d run like that.
I try to switch places with her in my mind.
If I was her and she was me, and what happened had happened like it did, what would I do?
I’m a big guy, and even sitting down, I’m head and shoulders bigger than Vanessa.
But she did grab my neck, hugging herself close to me when she thanked me.
Remember?
Oh, I remember.
I run my hand flat across the area she grabbed hold of.
A new memory of my body finally meeting hers. But nowhere near enough the way I want it to be.
There are just as many green lights as there are red right now, in my mind, at least. So when my cell rings and I see it’s Jase, I welcome the distraction.
But now, I have no idea how I could even get her to come back.
“I’ve been trying to message her Dad. She won’t even answer when I call,” Jase tells me.
I’ve filled him in on how she’s got the job, reminding him that he’s her boss and he can’t be goofing off just because she’s in the office.
“Keep it professional is all I’m saying, Jase,” I hear myself tell him.
Maybe take a leaf outta that rulebook for yourself, Mike.
Long after we’ve gone over that, Jase tells me the one thing he should’ve as soon as I picked up.
I haven’t told him she ran out that I said she’s hired and…well. We both know what happened after that.
So Jase doesn’t know either. Not yet.
But that doesn’t mean anything right now. I feel my chest getting tighter at the thought of Vanessa running off alone.
Wishing more than anything, I had gone after her now. Not even thinking about how she’ll get home.
Idiot! You fix this, Michael Hart. You fix this shit pronto and get her back here where she belongs.
“Maybe her battery died,” I drone, forcing myself to sound disinterested but boiling inside.
Needing to know where she is now.
Needing to know she’s safe.
“I’ll try again later,” Jase concludes. But I already know where I’m headed once I get off the phone.
“You coming home anytime soon?” he asks casually.
“I still have the Phelps project to deal with,” I remind him. It’s our biggest project at the moment, and I should be focusing on that.
Not brushing the client off and getting free lap dances from prospective employees.